AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) Position Boosted by Ballentine Partners LLC

Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its holdings in AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) by 8.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 89,130 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,574 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in AT&T were worth $2,029,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Chesapeake Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of AT&T by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Chesapeake Wealth Management now owns 24,304 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $535,000 after purchasing an additional 460 shares during the period. Socha Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of AT&T by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Socha Financial Group LLC now owns 18,847 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $415,000 after purchasing an additional 461 shares during the period. Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of AT&T by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 34,468 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $759,000 after purchasing an additional 468 shares during the period. Essex Savings Bank increased its holdings in shares of AT&T by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Essex Savings Bank now owns 21,636 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $476,000 after purchasing an additional 480 shares during the period. Finally, Hayek Kallen Investment Management increased its holdings in shares of AT&T by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Hayek Kallen Investment Management now owns 60,271 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,326,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 57.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on T. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of AT&T from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of AT&T from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of AT&T from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $19.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. New Street Research upgraded shares of AT&T from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of AT&T from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AT&T presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $25.83.

AT&T Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of T opened at $22.49 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $22.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $21.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.73. AT&T Inc. has a 52-week low of $15.94 and a 52-week high of $24.03. The company has a market cap of $161.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.29, a PEG ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.59.

AT&T (NYSE:T) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The technology company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $30.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.50 billion. AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 7.42%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.64 EPS. Analysts predict that AT&T Inc. will post 2.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AT&T Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a dividend of $0.2775 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.93%. AT&T’s payout ratio is currently 90.24%.

AT&T Profile

AT&T, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the provision of telecommunications and technology services. It operates through the Communications and Latin America segments. The Communications segment offers wireless, wireline telecom, and broadband services to businesses and consumers located in the US and businesses globally.